Theodore Unit — 718

Theodore Unit is Ghostface Killah's group, composed of Cappadonna (an affiliate of the Wu-Tang Clan at the time and then a member of the group since 2007 officially), Kryme Life and Trife Diesel of TMF, Shawn Wigs of Othorized FAM, Solomon Childs and Du-Lilz. Ghostface's son Sun God is also believed to be among the members of the group, although he does not participate in this album.

The production is created with practically one beat each by different beatmakers, the only one close to the Wu is the affiliate Cilvaringz. The others are Self, Anthony Acid, Dirty Dean, Smith Bros, Nexus, d. Prosper, K-Def, Emile, Skillspinc and Milestone. Being a group of eight rappers you might think that guests are not needed, instead Method Man, Streetlife and Bone Crusher arrive to support the boys at the mic.

The album opens with "Guerilla Hood", a production idea by Cilvaringz, affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan. Robust boom bap, ferocious rhythm, raw fat bass line, thick heavy midtempo drum, shrill horns, scattered strings. Ghostface Killah enters with a dramatic style and immediately sets the mood of the project, claiming to imprint his internal group Theodore Unit in the streets. He delivers hardcore in the first verse, unyielding, energetic, velvety, dope flow, destroys the rhythm. Hook, second hardcore stanza, this solo, the unique realized by him in the product, is one of the best tracks in Tony Starks' discography. The second track is a solo by another great protagonist of this effort, Trife da God. Underground boom bap beat by an uncredited beatmaker: rough loop full of rust, chunky bass line, chaotic samples, keyboard loop, uptempo dry drum, sick sample from Grover Washington Jr.'s "Black Frost". Hardcore delivery by Trife da God describing life as a drug dealer in the hood, his hook, then back for the closing verse keeping the listener's attention high.

The next choice also does not feature credits behind the keyboards. There's a freestyle by Starks & Trife, in the first collaborative track of the album and the two main performers: frenetic sample from "The Mexican" by John "Jellybean" Benitez feat. Jenny Haan, intro with a sample from "Set It Off" by Big Daddy Kane, the rhythm breathes for a few seconds, then GFK attacks with the fastest style possible on a boom bap dance with frenetic drum and a very tight sample, on the chorus the Jellybean sample is left to breathe, Trife closes the piece. There's another highlight with the arrival of "The Drummer" and the return of a production credit, Self Service is the beatmaker author of this cut. Sample from "I Don't Need No Help" by Valerie Simpson made chipmunk, from which also comes the title of the song, which is a reference to that song. Sound of the crackle of vinyl, Ghost in the intro along with the sample and nothing else. Then on a random cry of Ghostface the beat starts, raw boom bap of Self Service, robust bass line, thick drum, dusty, dirty, midtempo. Hardcore delivery by Starks who goes away chanting, when you expect the arrival of Meth, already mentioned a couple of times, the Wu affiliate Streetlife appears, who delivers a few bars with a regular flow to leave room for Trife da God, another short verse, also a short stanza by Tony Starks who returns to open the door to Method Man with his silky, smooth, dope flow. The cypher continues with contributions from Trife, Streetlife, Ghostdeini and Johnny Blaze, who closes the cut.

Anthony Acid produces "Gatz", another posse: bare uptempo drum, tepid bass line, shrill horns, samples from "Catch a Groove" by Juice, cheap boom bap. Intro by Pretty Toney, Othorized FAM rapper Shawn Wigs attacks hardcore and delivers with a style that loses flow as it progresses, even if the boy tries to maintain energy and the listener's attention, energetic hook by GFK, stanza by Solomon Childs, fragmented, stuttering, irregular, syncopated, not excellent flow, Ghost's hook closes. "Who Are We?" is produced by Dirty Dean: dirty boom bap, thick bass line, poor midtempo drum, dirty horns in circular loops taken from a sample of the film "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" from the early seventies. Trife da God on the first verse with a calm execution in which he reinforces his association with Ghostface Killah in his battle. Hardcore hook shouted in an eerie way by the last guest on the record, Bonecrusher of Lyrical Giants, calm delivery also by Tony Starks on this vibrant beat, good flow. Solomon Childs not credited for the greetings, hook and outro by GFK. In the rare version that can be heard on the internet, for whatever reason, the first guest hook is cut.

The Smith Bros. produce a joint that bears their name. Intro and first smoothness verse by Ghost Face Killer over a minimal boom bap production: solid bass line, skinny drums lean midtempo, strings shimmering in the background, the sample is taken from a self-titled cut by Raekwon released the year before and also produced by the same guys. For the hook, Starks pays homage to Queen. Trife da God closes the piece on the second verse with a confident, energetic, fluid delivery, great tune. Nexus is the beatmaker who invents the rhythm for "Mama Can Your Hear Me", a solo choice by Solomon Childs that he delivers with a slow, irregular style over a solid production: boom bap, thick and robust bass line, dry downtempo drum, keyboards, beautiful sample from "Sweet Life" by Barry Manilow, a classic, that is left to breathe free for the hook. The emcee delivers three verses in what is considered one of his career best cuts, and for good reason.

The award-winning Ghostface & Trife company returns to the album on "Paychecks". DProsper & K-Def chop up several parts of Dakota Staton's "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" to build the beat. Piano loops, crisp bass line, uptempo drum spreads, lively samples, great rhythm. Tony Starks goes hardcore and delivers well, simple hook of his own, Trife with energy in the next verse and an amazing flow, among his finest. Ghostdeini returns in the third verse and rips the tracks, hook, outro. Certainly one of the album's brightest pieces, later deservedly placed on "Hidden Darts". K-Def stays behind the keyboards on "Wicked with Lead", funky bass line, sparse midtempo drum, sample from Spoonie Gee's "Spoonie Is Back". Velvety delivery by GFK, his chorus, Trife on the second verse closes the track with one of his smoothest flows, dope; track that is one of the least well-done of theirs, due to the cheap rhythm.

Shawn Wigs of Othorized FAM also gets his solo cut on "Daily Routine": Emile Haynie delivers solid boom bap production, dry uptempo drums, tight horns, sparse keys, thick deep bass line in the background, silky delivery by Wigs who offers a single verse in these two minutes without disgracing himself among the other guys. "Right Back" has no production credits and for good reason, the production is cheap and questionable: annoying loop of shrill horns, poor downtempo drum, thick bass line, hardcore delivery by Trife da God, his hook, then verse by Kryme Life, another TMF member with Trife himself, irregular flow, good energy. Short outro by Solomon Childs. Track number thirteen is credited to the entire group, with production by K-Def. Simple boom bap, solid bass line, dry midtempo dusty drum, ideal, properly looped and timed trumpet sample, good beat. Intro by Du-Lilz, first verse by Shawn Wigs, who delivers smoothly, calm, flowing, good rapping. Regular hardcore delivery by Trife for the second stanza preceding Starks, fast delivery, energetic, smoothness, breathless dope flow. Solomon Childs briefly introduces the latest emcee of the cypher, Cappadonna, a close affiliate of the Wu-Tang Clan who enters without permission and delivers messy, irregular, straight for straight, trampling the rhythm. The boy is considered as a member of the group Theodore Unit, among the most important also, yet he appears for the first time after almost three quarters of an hour with the album almost finished.

The next choice "Work" features a Skillspinc beat. Creepy piano keys looped over a crazy hi-hat. Poor dry downtempo drum, pretty cheap boom bap for the second solo cut by Solomon Childs who delivers energetically and irregularly on this disheveled sound carpet. "It's the Unit" presents a cheap boom bap by Emile Haynie, guitar riff, robust bass line, thick midtempo dry drum, roaring rocking samples. Straight hardcore energetic delivery by Cappadonna after the intro from a film sample, hook by GFK repeating the name of the group along with Kryme Life of TMF (the latter uncredited), chorus, short film skit, hardcore energetic delivery with a good flow by Shawn Wigs who closes the piece, almost unobtainable on the internet. Triple final hook, this choice is unmemorable. The album is closed by the third solo by Solomon Childs, a love ballad on Milestone production. Soft bass line, dusty midtempo drum, clean acoustic guitar riff, sweet keyboard, slow steady delivery from the Staten Island rapper who delivers a couple of stanzas letting the sample from the Dramatics' song of the same name breathe for the chorus.

Final Thoughts

Theodore Unit originated in 2001 during Ghostface Killah's third studio album, "Bulletproof Wallets", on a track produced by Allah Mathematics, with American Cream Team member Twiz aka Baby Thad and TMF member Trife da God rapping alongside Starks. In order to form Ghostface's new group, Trife and Kryme Life left the trio TMF (also consisting of Tommy Whispers) and joined Shawn Wigs and Du-Lilz of Othorized FAM. Originally, the group was supposed to also include Chef Raekwon and his group American Cream Team leader Polite, however, following the group's dissolution, the latter two decided to form their own group, Ice Water. They were replaced by long-time Wu affiliate Cappadonna and friend Solomon Childs.

At this time, Cappadonna's friend Mike Caruso is still a member of Ghostface's inner circle and Cappadonna himself. The name might not ring a bell, he will later be famous as an FBI informant and therefore excluded from Wu-Tang. Here the boy is even executive producer along with the others. Anthony Acid manages the mixing. The title is a tribute to the area code where all the performers of the album reside, that of Stapleton, Staten Island. On the cover in red at the top is the name of the group, above it must be the seven names of the group members, below the title and in the middle the boys all dressed in uniform except one, in the center, the only one you should recognize.

Despite the large number of performers, the product doesn't sound like a group, but rather like a mixtape of sorts in a union of users for a common purpose: Ghostface Killah appears ten times in sixteen tracks, followed by Trife with nine appearances (six of which with Tony Starks: the album is more of a collaborative effort between the two of them, as they are together on a third of the album), Solomon Childs (5), Shawn Wigs (4), Kryme Life (2), Cappadonna (2) and Du-Lilz (1). In the wake of Ghost, Trife takes the lion's share and tears up the album in every single appearance, but Solomon Childs and Shawn Wigs also have their opportunities to shine and take advantage of them. After the album's release, Solomon Childs left the group in 2005 for unknown reasons. Around the same time, Ghostface Killah & Trife da God released the collaborative album "Put It on the Line", which features most of these same performers with the addition of Ghostdeini's son, Sun God. In the following years, the group and its members have often been featured on Ghostface's albums.

Released by Sure Shot Recordings with distribution by Navarre Corporation, recorded between Miami and New York, the album is labeled as a modest thug rap effort: well received by specialized critics, the album sells well to reach both the rap charts and the independent releases. Some tracks were later included in Ghostface's compilation "Hidden Darts" (2007). Composed of solid production and tight, focused and hardcore rap, the tape is a pleasant addition for fans of the double v. 7.5/10.